June 6, 2015

TODAY IS THE BEST!

My grandma has been so awake and alert all day. She is so much like her regular self I feel like I can finally breathe again. It can only be a matter of time before she is better enough to leave the ICU!

We have been talking for almost the entire day. I told her about last week when Jonathan asked us if his penis was a baby maker. She laughed and laughed and laughed.

Wheel of Fortune came on and we watched it together for the first time in weeks. Neither of us got any of the puzzles, but that’s okay.

She’s still asking for water and I try to explain to her why she can’t have any. I tell her she has to try and follow the nurses commands when they ask her questions. Trying to convince her to be cooperative is my main goal for the day after the nurses ask me to give her a pep talk. My grandma listens, thankfully.

I walk out for a moment and turn to tell her I’ll be right back. I ask her if she needs anything.

“Get me out of here” she says.

“I’m working on it grandma.”

She recognizes people in the pictures I show her. One of me, one of my mom, one of Brandon Marshall, who all the nurses think is her adopted son. I asked her if she remembers what happened and she shakes her head no.

The nurses tell me that often times when something traumatic like this happens, the person has no recollection of the event when they wake up. I don’t want to scare her so I let it be.

The Blackhawks game is on! I lay her jersey over her hospital gown and make sure she has her glasses to see the television. They score a goal and she makes a thumbs up signal with her hand, looking straight at me I can see excitement in her face again.

There is nothing abnormal about this night except we are sitting in the middle of the ICU. Beyond our location, life is almost normal.

She falls asleep before the game ends. I stay for a while after making sure I’m still here in case she wakes up. The nurse says I should go home and get some sleep, that my grandma should sleep through the night and I need to try to do the same.

I squeeze my grandma’s hand and tell her I’ll be back in the morning. I’m floating through the hospital on a cloud of so many different emotions. I’m relieved and excited and hopeful and so sure that we are on an upswing.

After 12 days of my grandma being the patient, she was finally just my grandma again.

I lay my head down on her pillow in her living room, her cat lays at my feet. I sleep peacefully tonight, better than I have in days; unafraid of some late night or early morning emergency call from the hospital…